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Writing World

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Featuring everything new and experienced authors need to develop creative and technical skills. Check out writing development articles, our Word of the Day, writing prompts, anthology opportunities and more!

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #138 & #139

So, it's Friday again! That means that we're bringing you two more prompts from Comicfan! We're glad to see so many people trying out the prompts! Remember, share what you do (and see what others are doing) in our Writing Prompts forum.   Prompt 138 – Creative Cue – The Sleeper You volunteered for the experiment figuring with the disaster your life was, two years asleep in the cryo-tank might allow some changes to happen allowing you to fix everything. While you were sleeping massive changes o
Renee Stevens

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Prompts

Site Tip: Reviewing For The Blog!

So, you may have noticed that we are asking the members of GA to do reviews on stories that they have enjoyed. You may have even thought, “Oh, I should do a review on…” but there is still something that holds you back from doing a review to be featured on the blog. You might even think that the story you just read might not be one we are looking for. Well, forget that worry! We want all stories!!! Hosted, Promising, Author, Poet, New Authors, Old Authors, even the old anthologies! Or perhaps you
Renee Stevens

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #136 & #137

Friday! Time to jump in and try a new prompt, with our most sincere thanks to ComicFan!   Prompt 136 – Challenge Cue – The Family Caretaker You almost laugh as you read the century old book. Who knew that someone would write stories about tattoos coming to life or electric grandmothers who never die? Little did that author know how close he would come to the truth that you live with every day. You shiver as you turn to face the family caretaker, who might live forever but isn’t the sweet kindl
Trebs

Trebs in Prompts

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: What To Look For... In A Beta Reader

So, you’ve written your story, and you’ve even found an editor to help point out all those pesky missed commas and misspelled words. That’s it, right? I mean, what else could you possibly need? How about, a Beta reader!   A good beta/author relationship is worth its weight in gold. If you do decide to find a beta reader, be forewarned that it might take you a couple tries before you find one that you really mesh with. I personally have had countless beta readers before finding my current team
Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Editing - Getting Started

So it's time to look at something that a lot of us probably never saw! Today we're bringing you a little gem that was published in one of GA's old newsletters. Have you offered to edit for someone and receive the first chapter only to realize that you have no clue where to start? If so, this editing tip could be very beneficial to you! Even if you don't currently edit, it's still a helpful tidbit full of good advice! Editing Tips...Getting Started   Volume 2: Edition 1 October 2006  
Prompts

Writing Prompts #134 & #135

FRIDAY!!! Not only the end of the work week for many, it's also the day that we get to see new prompts that might stretch our creative muscles. As always, we thank ComicFan for these two new prompts:   Prompt 134 – Creative Cue – Word list Use the following words in a story: Gravesite, balloons, pregnant woman, cold cereal, and an old book.   Prompt 135 – Creative Cue – The Legacy There is a child in every generation chosen to inherit the family legacy. It is no easy task and while the rewar
Renee Stevens

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Life In The Fishbowl

We asked for tips - and you responded! Here is K.C.'s tip on Life in the Fishbowl! Do you have one that we can feature? If so, let Renee Stevens or myself know.   Life in the Fishbowl by K.C.   As I swim around Gay Authors, I see a wide range of different users here. Those who write put a great deal of time, effort and themselves into bringing amazing and entertaining stories to the GA community. Those who read have the opportunity to talk to the writers, to comment on th
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Pleonasm

For Tip Tuesday we are bringing you another interesting little tid bit that is brought to you by Cia. Enjoy and we'd love to hear your thoughts. Pleonasm More weird writing terminology   So here's another weird word to describe a common writing mistake. A 'pleonasm' is a phrase where redundant words are used to express the meaning of the sentence. Like... a free gift. A gift is always free, because it is given to you. So obviously the use of the word 'free' is redundant but so co
Prompts

Writing Prompts #130 & #131

Even though we paused our news blog last week, the prompts continued on schedule. So *that* means - we have FOUR prompts to showcase today. As usual, ComicFan is our source of all of this wonderful promptyness...   Prompt 130 – Creative Cue – The Call You have lived your whole life in the same town, however with each passing year you have felt a desire to move. Always you head in the same direction. Now you are legally an adult and the money you have saved manically for the past few years is g
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Character Building

Interesting characters are usually one of the most important elements of good writing. That's why this great tip by CassieQ is a welcome addition to our GA News Blog. If you have a great tip that you'd like to share with the community, let me or Renee Stevens know.   Character Building by CassieQ   To be 100% honest, writing about characters was hard. Characterization is something that always seemed to flow naturally, so trying to take it apart and explain the mechanics o
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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Brainstorming Past Your Block

Brainstorming Past Your Block   Especially when writing a short story, there will often come a time in your plot when you get stuck. One of the best ways to move past a block in the action is to brainstorm what could happen. Then... pick one! Often when I'm trying to figure out the loose overall plot I will do a 'this happens, then that, then this' in a timeline fashion. Sometimes I can't figure out what I want to have happen next and that's when I start brainstorming. I'll do this on my
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: The Editing Process

So - glancing over some of the past newsletters, I found this gem from Feb 2007, about editing from a writer's perspective. I hope you enjoy!   Editors and Writers   The Editing Process: From the Writer’s Point of View By Talon Rider   Finding an editor can be a problem sometimes. You think to yourself, where can I find someone? Do I ask another author who they use? Do I post something in a forum somewhere? Has an editor made their presence known? Either one of those methods may
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #128 & #129

Today we bring you two new prompts from Comicfan. While they both look like they're going to be interesting, I think "The Sexes" is going to provide quite the challenge! Enjoy!   Prompt 128 – Creative Cue – Word List Use the following words in a story: fog, bus, newspaper, coffee roll, and toilet paper.   Prompt 129 – Creative Cue – The Sexes Science has always said that there would be new species added as time went on and as Mother Nature needed change. What wasn’t expected was that the hum
Renee Stevens

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Synonyms

Synonyms   In writing, especially when doing character pieces, you need to watch for repetition. The words used when writing can give clues to accurately express how the character appears or acts depending on what synonym is used. Physical cues are very important when it comes to showing and not telling. However, using the same word repeatedly is boring. Below are a few common actions and examples of synonyms you can use to highlight them in different ways.   Expression: noun-outward ap
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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Setting "the Scene"

Today's Tip is brought to you by our prompt guru, Comicfan. Thank you for this wonderful little lesson on setting the scene for a story! If YOU have a tip for a future blog entry, let Trebs or Renee Stevens know!   The Scene by Comicfan   Ever notice how important a scene is? I don’t mean the action; I mean that place it is located in. Sometimes it can add to the overall sense of what is happening or it can make it a tragedy. It isn’t very hard to have a story go wrong by the
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #126 & #127

Good Friday! Happy Passover! Or that great catch all - TGIF!!!   I recently chatted with someone who said they couldn't write - they thought they did well on email and documents for work, but trying to write a story was something they thought beyond their skill. I have to say, ESPECIALLY for that type of person, these writing prompts are the perfect way to just experiment and try seeing what you are capable of.   ComicFan has given us two great new prompts - I really hope you try one of them
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Writing For Technical Geeks

For today's tip - we have a great writeup by Myr that we hope will be useful to you as an author. If you have a tip you think the community would find useful, please let Trebs or Renee Stevens know!   Writing for Technical Geeks by Myr   As many know, I'm a rather technical person by nature. It is in my blood to research stuff into the ground so that I can understand all the angles of a thing. I think and rethink on things all the time. It is thus when I went into a writing blo
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Blogging For Exposure

How to get more traffic to your stories is frequently something author's are concerned about. What use is it to write a fantastic story, if people don't know about it. Here is one way - Cia writes about blogging as a way to increase your exposure. Check out her tip and let us know what you think! Also, if YOU have a tip, let me know. It may be one we feature on a future news blog entry.   Blogging for Exposure by Cia   Do you blog? I didn't until about 3 months ago. I've writin
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Editing

I love looking back over older GA Newsletters. This gem about editing was published in the December 2006 issue - but is still very relevant today. I hope you enjoy!   Editing Tips... How Far Should You Go?   There can be little doubt that editing is an extremely complicated process. Sure, anyone with basic literacy skills and a spellchecker can read through a story and correct spelling and grammatical mistakes. It's not exactly brain surgery. Yes, it takes a certain degree of skill a
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #124 & #125

Happy Friday (and for those who celebrate, Happy Cesar Chavez Day)!   ComicFan has come up with two new prompts - I hope you give at least one of them a try. If you do, share them with the community in the Writing Prompts forum.   Prompt 124 – Creative Cue – The Mystery You have been having a nice walk with your dog along the beach when your dog suddenly begins barking and tugging you toward pier. Deciding it is still a move back toward your car you allow the dog to lead you under the pier.
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Spell Check

For today's tip, Cia found a fantastic "Ode to the Spell Check". It appears to have been written by Nico van Tonder from Zaire who wrote it around 1999.   Ode to the Spell Check Eye halve a spelling chequer It cam with my pea sea It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.   Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh.   As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #122 & #123

Happy Friday everyone! Our two new writing prompts to play with are from ComicFan:   Prompt 122 – Creative Cue – Word List Use the following words in story: Red hand print, shattered vase, new car, fifteen year old boy, and a spider.   Prompt 123 – Challenge Cue – Poetry Mention poetry and see the look of fear on so many faces. Choose whichever kind of poetry you prefer to write in, but it must be about one of three topics. Either your favorite season, favorite holiday, or your favorite pers
Trebs

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Said-Bookisms

Today we have another very informative writing tip from Cia! Enjoy!!! Said-bookisms   I'm betting you have NO idea what a said-bookism is, do you? I know I didn't; I do know what the term means though, in a general sense. A said-bookism is a speech tag other than said or asked. Quite often they are used to describe the speech or the tone.   A few examples: He laughed She shrieked They intoned He smiled   Now, these are really common in usage, yet frowned upon more and more. Somethi
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Oops, It's Wrong... Or Is It?

Cia has done it again and written what I think is a fantastic writing tip. Check it out and see if you agree... Oops, it's wrong... or is it?   So many times I get confused by the complexities of English grammar, I'm sure many of you are the same. The rules are often contradictory, and the exceptions to exceptions are absolutely a quagmire of missteps and misspells waiting to trap you. I recently read an article that said to polish your writing skills, spend thirty minutes a month revi
Trebs

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #120 & #121

Happy Friday. Looking forward to a great weekend, especially with the GA announcement coming out tomorrow morning.   What announcement? Well - check this news blog tomorrow and you'll see!   And as it's Friday, we have two new writing prompts to play with Today's writing prompts are brought to you by Comicfan:   Prompt 120 – Creative Cue – The perfect body Science has created the process. You no longer have to be unhappy with the body you were given. Now you can have exactly what you want
Trebs

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